Aston Academy
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,366 pupils
82% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.2
Results below include those reported under the school’s previous registration: St Bernard's Catholic High School, Specialist School for the Arts and Applied Learning (URN 106963, until 1 July 2012).
St Bernard's Catholic High School has no sixth form. Of the 142 pupils who finished Year 11 there in 2023, 41% moved to a sixth form college, 32% to a further education college and 1% started an apprenticeship.
Sixth form colleges are the main next step: 41% of leavers went to one, roughly three times the England rate of 13%.
Religious Studies is unusually popular at GCSE: 98% of the year group took it, against 31% of pupils across England.
GCSE results in 2025 were above the national picture: Attainment 8 of 48.9 against 46.1 across England and 41.8 in Rotherham, with 43% of pupils getting grade 5 or above in both English and maths (England 45%).
Destinations of the 2023 Year 11 leavers, measured the following year: the share in a sustained place for at least two terms. Compared with all state-funded schools in Rotherham and England.
| Measure | This school | Rotherham | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils in the cohort | 142 | 3,387 | 607,348 |
| Any sustained destination | 94% | 89% | 92% |
| Stayed in education | 89% | 80% | 86% |
| — school sixth form | 15% | 24% | 34% |
| — sixth form college | 41% | 18% | 13% |
| — further education college | 32% | 35% | 37% |
| — other education | 1% | 3% | 2% |
| Apprenticeship | 1% | 5% | 3% |
| Employment | 3% | 4% | 3% |
| No sustained destination | 5% | 8% | 6% |
| Destination unknown | 1% | 3% | 3% |
| Measure | This school | Rotherham | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 (average points per pupil) | 48.9 | 41.8 | 46.1 |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 43% | 39% | 45% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 66% | 58% | 65% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate subjects | 26% | 29% | 41% |
| EBacc average point score | 4.08 | 3.56 | 4.09 |
| Disadvantaged pupils in the cohort | 25% | 32% | 28% |
| Attainment 8 — disadvantaged pupils | 38.0 | 30.5 | 34.9 |
| Attainment 8 — other pupils | 52.4 | 47.1 | 50.4 |
| Pupils with high prior attainment (Key Stage 2) | — | — | — |
| English as an additional language | 9% | 11% | 19% |
Progress 8 is not available for 2025 and 2026: these cohorts had no Key Stage 2 tests in 2020 and 2021, so there is no baseline. Attainment 8 shows results without taking pupils’ starting points into account.
Entries in 2025 as a share of the Year 11 cohort, and the share of entries graded 7–9 and 4–9, compared with all entries in England.
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England | Grades 7–9 | England | Grades 4–9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Literature | 167 | 100% | 86% | 19% | 21% | 75% |
| Mathematics | 164 | 100% | 88% | 17% | 22% | 71% |
| English Language | 163 | 100% | 89% | 21% | 20% | 74% |
| Religious Studies | 159 | 98% | 31% | 35% | 32% | 82% |
| Combined Science | 129 | 79% | 65% | 2% | 9% | 53% |
| History | 87 | 53% | 41% | 28% | 26% | 68% |
| Geography | 58 | 36% | 41% | 29% | 25% | 67% |
| Design and Technology | 37 | 23% | 11% | 5% | 23% | 38% |
| Spanish | 35 | 21% | 19% | 9% | 27% | 77% |
| Statistics | 32 | 20% | 5% | 41% | 20% | 97% |
| Physics | 32 | 20% | 23% | 41% | 46% | 100% |
| Biology | 32 | 20% | 23% | 56% | 45% | 100% |
| Chemistry | 32 | 20% | 23% | 53% | 47% | 100% |
| French | 29 | 18% | 18% | 31% | 29% | 86% |
| Food Preparation and Nutrition | 27 | 17% | 8% | 15% | 21% | 41% |
| Fine Art | 27 | 17% | 9% | 37% | 28% | 96% |
| Computer Science | 18 | 11% | 13% | 28% | 30% | 94% |
| Media Studies | 18 | 11% | 4% | 44% | 20% | 94% |
| Physical Education | 18 | 11% | 11% | 6% | 24% | 56% |
| Textiles | 18 | 11% | 2% | 17% | 27% | 94% |
| Photography | 15 | 9% | 6% | 20% | 19% | 87% |
| Chinese | 1 | 1% | 1% | — | 75% | — |
| Subject | Entries | Share of cohort | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Studies | 31 | — | — |
| Sports Studies | 21 | — | — |
| Speech and Drama | 13 | — | — |
| Dance: General | 10 | — | — |
| Music performance: Group | 8 | — | — |
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,366 pupils
82% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.2
Academy converter · sixth form · 1,389 pupils
83% stayed in education · Attainment 8 44.5
Academy sponsor led · 1,146 pupils
66% stayed in education · Attainment 8 29.4
Academy sponsor led · sixth form · 1,096 pupils
76% stayed in education · Attainment 8 42.0
Academy converter · 1,067 pupils
81% stayed in education · Attainment 8 47.5
Academy sponsor led · 1,067 pupils
75% stayed in education · Attainment 8 38.8
Sources: Department for Education school and college performance tables 2024/2025 (Key Stage 4 and 16–18 results, subject entries, destination measures for 2023 leavers); Get Information About Schools register as at 19 September 2026; Ofsted management information as at 31 August 2026. Small numbers are suppressed by DfE and shown as “—”. How to read these figures.